My best friend lives across the street. He was having dinner with his family at the kitchen table when he noticed that his patio was on fire. It took less than 5 minutes for the fire dept to arrive. They were able to save the house, but there is extensive fire, smoke, and water damage. 6-9 month rebuild. No word yet on the cause of the fire. All the people, two dogs, a guinea pig and a turtle were rescued.

Firefighters had to go in the house twice to find one of the dogs. They turned the area under the staircase into a kennel, and it goes further back than you would expect. The house was completely black with smoke when the department arrived. Another 60 seconds and I think they would have lost the house completely.

They got out of the pool, were having dinner, and the next minute they are looking for somewhere to live. Crazy fast. Our neighborhood and community is taking good care of them. Amazingly generous, and they'll be ok.

Looks & sounds like a real mess. Glad they all made it out ok, now the prolonged, exhausting cleanup & rebuild.

Patio fire? Sitting down to eat? Was a grill involved? That’s how a relative lost most of their house, 10+ years ago.

That’s scary. I’m glad everyone is okay.

Grill fire?

A video we used to use to teach new fire fighters showed how fast a fire would spread. It is called count down to disaster.
The video was put out by the National Fire Protection Association back in the 80s
In most cases the fire would go from the first sign of a small flame to a possible flash over of the entire room in less than 3 minutes.
This is why it is so important to have properly working smoke detectors in your home.
Thankfully they are okay and no one was hurt.

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
A video we used to use to teach new fire fighters showed how fast a fire would spread. It is called count down to disaster.
The video was put out by the National Fire Protection Association back in the 80s
In most cases the fire would go from the first sign of a small flame to a possible flash over of the entire room in less than 3 minutes.
This is why it is so important to have properly working smoke detectors in your home.
Thankfully they are okay and no one was hurt.

It's an old, but great video. We show it in our restoration courses.

fwbulldog, sounds as if your friend is taking it well. It'll take a few months, some headaches, probably some tears too, but when it's all said and done they'll be back in their home.

I watched a video several years ago and they said a typical house fire doubles every 4 minutes so once it’s going you can imagine how quickly it gets out of control.

Look at how nice the ceiling trusses look where they were covered by Sheetrock. Wallboard’s ability to resist fire is impressive. When I had a house fire, the room that was remodeled with Sheetrock resisted the fire, while another room that had lathe and plaster failed more quickly.

Had a neighbor's home catch fire. (It is believed to have been started by an errant firework from a nearby Independence Day party, but was never proven.) It spread from the back of his attached garage and was to the other side of the 2nd floor of the house before the FD could arrive.

quote:

Originally posted by MattW:

quote:

Originally posted by 71 TRUCK:
A video we used to use to teach new fire fighters showed how fast a fire would spread. It is called count down to disaster.
The video was put out by the National Fire Protection Association back in the 80s
In most cases the fire would go from the first sign of a small flame to a possible flash over of the entire room in less than 3 minutes.
This is why it is so important to have properly working smoke detectors in your home.
Thankfully they are okay and no one was hurt.

It's an old, but great video. We show it in our restoration courses.

fwbulldog, sounds as if your friend is taking it well. It'll take a few months, some headaches, probably some tears too, but when it's all said and done they'll be back in their home.

Around 30-60 seconds now depending on the materials burning.